Fuel My Friday: Robinson's Chickpea Curry

Having podiumed in the pool at the British Swimming Championships in April over the 1500m Freestyle, two-time marathon swimming World Championship competitor Toby Robinson was back racing round the buoys for the first time in 2022 last week, securing a top ten finish at the LEN Open Water Cup in Piombino, Italy. 

With the Loughborough University swimmer now in action the Spanish Open Water Nationals - his second marathon swimming event in as many weeks as he prepares for a third World Championships appearance next month - we asked earlier this week for one of the go to options on his menu when it comes to fuelling a big block of training and racing. Over to you, Toby...

I enjoy preparing and eating this chickpea curry after a hard day of training. It’s a lovely vegan recipe that can be adapted for making in the slow cooker as well as this quicker method, and it's also good because it’s easy to make lots to store in the freezer for a future meal.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp oil
  
• 1 onion
• 1 tsp dried chilli
• 9 garlic cloves
• A peeled thumb-sized piece ginger
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 2 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp garam masala
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 2x400g cans chickpeas
• 400g chopped tomatoes
• 100g creamed coconut
• 50g chopped coriander
• 100g spinach

Method

1. Firstly to make the paste, start by dicing your onion and fry in 1 tbsp oil along with the dried chilli until softened.
2. Next combine the garlic cloves, peeled ginger and remaining oil in a food processor, before adding the ground coriander, cumin, garam masala, tomato purée, 1/2 tsp salt and the fried onion. Blend to a smooth paste, adding a drop of water if required.
3. Cook the paste in a saucepan over a medium-high heat for two minutes (stir occasionally to make sure it doesn't stick!), then tip in the chopped tomatoes and two drained cans of chickpeas. Simmer for five minutes to allow the contents to reduce down.
4. Add the creamed coconut with a splash of water and simmer for a further five minutes, then add the chopped coriander and spinach and cook until wilted.
5. Serve up on some freshly cooked rice or a toasted naan bread, garnish with a little extra coriander and tuck in! 

Check out our athletes' diverse range of recipe options across on the Fuel My Friday page HERE